Georgia’s track and field will travel more than 1,800 miles to Tempe, Ariz., this weekend, as the Bulldogs are among 13 other squads invited to compete in the Arizona State Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

“This is a major invitational and we expect every one of the teams to be competing very hard,” head coach Wayne Norton said. “These teams are going to be from all over the nation – and even though we have excellent competition here in SEC, it is nice to get great competition from elsewhere.”

Regardless of the change in time zones and climate, Norton expects a greater challenge for his team to come from many of the nation’s elite programs that will be present.

In fact, some of the factors may favor Georgia.

“It usually takes days to feel the effects of a time change, so we should be just fine,” Norton said. “The warmer climate should be a positive thing and actually help us out in most events.”

Both the men’s and women’s teams are expected to compete this weekend, with the exception of distance runners who would be affected negatively by the climate differences.

The other teams competing feature some of the nation’s best, including powerhouse host Arizona State, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Northern Arizona, Colorado State and Purdue.